DOCUMENTING EXTENT OF QUARRY IMPACTS
Posted:
1/21/2008 10:19:34 AM
The landmark agreement between Solebury Township and the state Department of Environmental Protection allows for scientists – not lawyers – to study the water, land and wildlife surrounding the quarry and determine the best course of action to protect the water the residents and stream communities depend upon in Primrose Creek Watershed.
As set forth in the agreement (available here in full) the scope of work will be developed over the next few weeks, and experts from all interested parties – from environmental groups to the quarry itself – are welcome to participate. Testing will begin shortly thereafter.
“This will be a thorough investigation extending well beyond the quarry grounds,” said Dr. Peter Brussock of Environmental Planning Consultants, the Township's water resources expert. “Changes in one part of an ecological system can have enormous impact in unexpected places. We need to look at the entire watershed to fully determine cause and effect relationships.”
Removing the Primrose Creek stream channel on the quarry property and pumping ground water down to greater than 100 feet below sea level in the quarry pit has caused many major problems for home and property owners in the area:
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Potable supply wells. Due to quarry draw-down of ground water, numerous residents have had their wells go dry without advance warning, requiring the deepening of the wells of several homeowners more than once.
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Land Erosion. The removal of the perennial stream channel from the quarry property has substantially steepened the grade of the stream upstream of the quarry. The result is down-cutting of the stream channel in the upstream direction resulting in bank erosion and property loss that will continue to progress upstream until a new equilibrium condition is achieved.
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Impacted fish community and aquatic ecology. Trout, once numerous in the Primrose Creek, are no longer present. In addition, upstream the stream dries up periodically due to the lack of ground water recharge caused by quarry pumping. Downstream of the quarry, the stream has been observed to stop flowing on several occasions because the quarry stops pumping.
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Damaged Wetlands. The upstream portion of the creek, deprived of its natural ground water supply, can no longer reliably sustain the wetlands areas that once existed there. Downstream of the quarry the fine sediment discharged from the quarry has – and continues – to alter the stream and associated wetlands.
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Water Pollution. The lack of natural flow patterns, altering of the natural temperature pattern and pH balance of the stream, has destroyed the natural habitat of many species of fish and birds native to the Primrose Creek. Deprived of their natural habitat, fish (including eels) and other wildlife that depended on the native flora (including grasses, riparian trees, and wetland wild flowers) have been lost from this historic area in Bucks County.
Each of these issues has a significant impact on the quality of life in Solebury Township. The Board of Supervisors has concluded that a scientifically-based sampling and review of the Primrose Watershed characteristics in comparison to very similar areas in Aquetong Watershed is needed to ensure PADEP will regulate the quarry in a manner that does not impact the quality of life of the residents, as well as preserve and protect our natural resources.
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